Sam's Boat to pay in wage law violations

Published 5:30 am, Saturday, March 20, 2004

Sam's Boat at Willowbrook Mall agreed to pay 117 current and former waiters and bartenders $100,813 in back wages after the Labor Department found that the restaurant violated the federal minimum wage law.

The government's investigation found that managers at the restaurant required the servers to pay them 3 percent of their sales. The investigation covered the period November 2001 to January 2003.

Under federal law, if an employer counts tips to meet the minimum wage obligation of $5.15 an hour, employees must be allowed to keep the tips.

The announcement comes a year after Sam's Boat on Richmond Avenue paid $112,702 in back wages to 49 employees who were also required to give 3 percent of their sales to managers. The ownership of that Sam's Boat is separate from the Sam's Boat at Willowbrook Mall.

Marvin Wang, who represents the management company contracted by Sam's Operating Houston Ltd., said the Willowbrook restaurant settled the case to take care of potential liability stemming from previous owners. Since ownership changed hands at the end of 2002, the restaurant has been fully compliant with the law, Wang said. He said he did did not want to identify the previous owners.

Wang said he hasn't found some former employees who have checks coming and urged them to call 713-532-4647.